INCUMBENT: J.P. Morrell (Democrat)

DESCRIPTION: Senate District 3 is located in metropolitan New Orleans and includes most of New Orleans East/the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, most of Arabi and Chalmette in Saint Bernard Parish, and parts of the Westbank of Jefferson Parish.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 78% Democratic

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: Senate District 3 is a convoluted district that owes its shape to the 2011 reapportionment session, when a Senate district was eliminated from Metro New Orleans due to population losses brought about by Hurricane Katrina. This meant that the old Senate District 2 (which was in New Orleans East/the Lower Ninth Ward) was merged with an earlier version of Senate District 3 (which included Gentilly and the Westbank of Jefferson Parish). This merger also meant that two (at the time) newly elected state senate incumbents were thrown into the same district. The merged district itself has a 61% black voter registration, and 56% of the voters live in Orleans Parish, 25% are from Jefferson Parish, and 19% from Saint Bernard Parish. Because it contains white liberal neighborhoods in New Orleans, it typically gives 3:1 support to Democratic candidates, although Governor “Bobby” Jindal got 47% of the district vote in his 2011 re-election. The current incumbent is J.P. Morrell, who successfully ran for the seat (and won with 55%) in December 2008 when his predecessor pled guilty for money laundering. Sen. Morrell then faced Cynthia Willard Lewis (who was the incumbent for the former District 2), who herself was recently elected in a special election in October 2010. In this matchup, Morrell was elected with 53% of the vote, getting an estiamted 45% of the black vote and 66% of the white vote – another instance of biracial coalitions’ determining the winner in a black majority district when both of the candidates are black. Sen. Morrell is allowed to serve one more term, and should be in good shape for re-election.